The Distribute installer modifies your installation by de-activating an
existing installation of Setuptools in a bootstrap process. This process
has been tested in various installation schemes and contexts but in case of a
bug during this process your Python installation might be left in a broken
state. Since all modified files and directories are copied before the
installation, you will be able to get back to a normal state by reading
the instructions in the Uninstallation instructions section.

In any case, it is recommended to save you site-packages directory before
you start the installation of Distribute.

Download the appropriate egg for your version of Python (e.g.
distribute-0.6-py2.4.egg). Do NOT rename it.

Run it as if it were a shell script, e.g. sh distribute-0.6-py2.4.egg.
Distutils will install itself using the matching version of Python (e.g.
python2.4), and will place the easy_install executable in the
default location for installing Python scripts (as determined by the
standard distutils configuration files, or by the Python installation).

If you want to install distribute to somewhere other than site-packages or
your default distutils installation locations for libraries and scripts, you
may include EasyInstall command-line options such as --prefix,
--install-dir, and so on, following the .egg filename on the same
command line. For example:

If you are trying to install Distribute for the Windows version of Python
(as opposed to the Cygwin version that lives in /usr/bin), you must make
sure that an appropriate executable (python2.3, python2.4, or
python2.5) is on your CygwinPATH when invoking the egg. For
example, doing the following at a Cygwin bash prompt will install Distribute
for the Windows Python found at C:\\Python24:

Since Distribute is a fork, and since it provides the same package and modules,
it fakes that the Setuptools installation is still present, so all the programs
that where using Setuptools still work.

If it wasn't doing it, a program that would try to install Setuptools
would overwrite in turn Distribute.

How does Distribute interacts with virtualenv ?

Everytime you create a virtualenv it will install setuptools, so you need to
re-install Distribute in it right after. The Distribute project will not
attempt to patch virtualenv so it uses it when globally installed.

Once installed, your virtualenv will use Distribute transparently.

Although, if you have Setuptools installed in your system-wide Python,
and if the virtualenv you are in was generated without the --no-site-packages
option, the Distribute installation will stop.

You need in this case to build a virtualenv with the --no-site-packages option
or to install Distribute globally.

How does in interacts with zc.buildout ?

Like virtualenv, Distribute has to be installed after setuptools. The simplest
way is to add it in a zc.recipe.egg section so the job is done when you
build your buildout.

If you are combining zc.buildout and virtualenv, you might fail in the
problem described in the previous FAQ entry.

Last, you will need to use the provided special bootstrap.py file,
located in the buildout directory.